Father of teen killed by Vallejo police files suit against city

The father of a 17-year-old Vallejo boy fatally shot by police last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that "inadequate" shooting policies led to the death of his son and others.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento by lawyers for Michael Huey, alleges that police killed a cowering teenager as he begged them not to shoot him at the end of a foot pursuit.

The suit links the killing of Huey's son, Jared Huey, 17, with a spate of officer-involved fatal shootings in Vallejo. Last year, officers killed six suspects, leading to protests at police headquarters and City Council meetings. They also led to Mayor Osby Davis and the council asking for an independent review by the California attorney general's office.

No officers were harmed in any of the shootings.

In one case that occurred in May 2012, a man killed by officers allegedly pulled out a metallic wallet that an officer said later looked like a gun.

In the most controversial shooting, on Sept. 2, officers killed Mario Romero, 23, after firing more than 30 rounds while he was in his car parked outside his home. Police alleged that he had a replica handgun and appeared to be reaching for it when the shooting began. Family members have vehemently denied those claims.

The federal lawsuit indicated that the shootings were all the result of "inadequate" and "deliberately indifferent" police department shooting policies.

"The training policies of defendant city of Vallejo regarding police officer use of deadly force were inadequate," the lawsuit claims. Vallejo "was deliberately indifferent to the obvious consequences of the inadequate policies, and ... the inadequate policies caused the six fatal shootings, including that of (Jared) Huey."

The boy's father, who has appeared at many of the protests, is seeking unspecified damages for excessive force, wrongful death, deprivation of due process and other alleged violations of his late son's constitutional rights.

The suit, filed by Oakland attorneys Dan Siegel and Dean Royer, names the city of Vallejo, police chief Joseph Kreins, former chief Robert Nichelini and the unidentified officers who shot Jared Huey.

On the morning of June 30, Vallejo police pursued a Jeep Cherokee alleged to be the getaway vehicle from a convenience store robbery. The truck hit a fire hydrant and Huey jumped out, according to witnesses cited in the lawsuit. They reportedly said Huey threw an object into some bushes before climbing over a concrete wall into a yard on the 600 block of Sheridan Street.

While neighbors recorded the incident on cell phone cameras, a number of police cars converged on the scene.

According to the complaint, Vallejo police announced: "Get the kids out of the park! There's gonna be a shoot-out!" and allegedly shouted taunts including "We'll teach you to do s--- in our town!" and "You think you're slick, little boy?!"

Officers then ordered Huey to raise his hands and stay still. An officer standing on a step stool then looked over the fence before pointing his rifle over. At the same moment, a second officer pointed his gun over the fence.

"At this point, decedent [Huey] had his hands up in the air, and yelled, 'Don't shoot!' 'No! No!' " according to the complaint. The officers then collectively fired their weapons about 10 to 20 times at Huey.

Police said Huey was armed, and that a gun was found near his body after the shooting. The lawsuit, however, alleges that officers spent at least 40 minutes looking for the gun and that it was found in another yard.

Huey was pronounced dead at the scene.

City Attorney Claudia Quintana declined to comment about the allegations in the lawsuit.

Huey lived with his father for most of his life, except for a period between August 2007 and April 2008 when he was in foster care, the lawsuit said.

In January, two Vallejo police officers were deemed justified in the May 24, 2012 killing of what turned out to be a heavily intoxicated man, 53-year-old Peter Mestler, after he brandished a fake gun on Sonoma Boulevard.